Rafael Nadal avenged last year’s loss to Nicolás Almagro by beating his fellow Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 at the Barcelona Open, while the US Open champion Marin Cilic slumped to a second-round exit.
The second-seeded Nadal, who lost last week to Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo semi-finals, rebounded with a solid performance to advance to the third round.
Almagro hit 19 unforced errors to nine for Nadal in a first set that he ceded on a costly double fault.
Then, after a spectator proposed marriage to his girlfriend between sets, the former No1 broke Almagro to go up 3-1 and rolled on.